Is there any more iconic monument than the Taj Mahal? Maybe the
pyramids, or the Eiffel Tower. I told the tour group as we drove from
Jaipur to Agra, "Remember, when you photograph the Taj Mahal, what you are
really doing is photographing 500 tourists with a pretty backdrop."
Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but you know what I mean.
I managed to photograph the Leaning Tower of Pisa without hundreds of
tourists in the picture (actually with only three visible in the entire
photo). Perhaps you know someone and can get access before the crowds;
otherwise, you'll not be able to avoid including the multitudes in your
photographs unless you photograph only at the second story and above.

Here, you'll see a variety of Taj Mahal views. When you look at
Taj Mahal 1 -- the truly iconic photo -- check out the second photo at
page bottom, which shows the same scene the way most tourists' photos will
look. I was keeping track: Taj Mahal 1 was the
billion-and-first photo taken of the Taj.

We visited the Taj Mahal first late in the afternoon (Taj Mahal
1-6). Then, before sunrise the next morning, we visited the
Mehtab Bagh, a garden
across the river, and photographed through the early morning mist (Taj
Mahal 7-12).